The invention relates to a method of cleaning a soldering iron and a device therefor, and more particularly relates to such a method and such a device for easily cleaning a soldering iron having melted solder attached thereto during the soldering operation by means of irregularly entangled strip elements.
The soldering iron, which is generally used in a factory for assembling electronic elements and the like, has a copper core bar plated with nickel or iron, and therefore the essential part will not be oxidized as the soldering iron is used, and there is no need to polish the essential part with a rasp and the like.
For this reason, the soldering iron 1 has been cleaned of the melted solder, as shown in FIG. 1, by rubbing the pointed part against a sponge 3 impregnated with water and accommodated in a case 2. Though the sponge 3 is porous and comparatively thin, it has generally a considerable resistance against the insertion of the soldering iron 1. Thus it has been actually impossible to clean the soldering iron 1 of the melted solder by simply sticking the soldering iron 1 into the sponge 3. Therefore in order to clean the soldering iron 1 of melted solder 4, it has been required at first to press one side of the soldering iron 1 against the sponge 3 as shown in FIG. 1, and then to reciprocatingly move the soldering iron in the axial direction as indicated with arrow marks A and B, and further to rotate the soldering iron 1 as indicated by arrow marks C and D. In fact, such a cleaning operation is troublesome and time consuming. Especially the rotation of the soldering iron 1 will add to the fatigue of the operator. On the other hand, the porous sponge 3 is clogged with the hardened solder pieces and other impurities and becomes useless in a comparatively short period of time. This is rather uneconomical. Moreover it is troublesome to always take care of furnishing the sponge 3 with water each time the soldering operation is made. Thus the conventional cleaning operation has been a hindrance in heightening the efficiency of the manual soldering operation.